Serious do you consider yourself a healthy person?

[colours]

this is intentionally an open-ended question. do you consider yourself healthy, and what are you doing to better yourself in terms of health, both physically and mentally?

 

[Zeostar]

Physically I bike and swim fairly often. My favorite food is also oatmeal, it could be worse. I did get carried away with binge eating and used my metabolism as an excuse, and this led to me having stomach issues.

Mentally I think I do okay too. I was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, it's the only thing I currently take medication for. It got way easier once I accepted help.

 

[pkmin3033]

Pfft, not in the slightest. I have so many physical health issues sometimes I wish I would just die and get it over with...and that probably speaks volumes about my mental state sometimes.

 

[Dave]

No, not physically fit 😔😔

 

[Flowerchild]

Nope! not even physically. I'm pretty weak and I haven't really exercised or had a remotely consistent diet in ages. Mentally.... screams.

 

[Figure]

That is a pretty loaded question! Physically, yes, very healthy. I got fairly out of shape during CoVid.. I went from about 185 and muscular to about 210-215 and... not as muscular. It was the largest I had ever been and really strange, through high-school I wrestled at 109 so I was used to either been lean or muscular. Mid May I started working again and, since I was active again, decided to get back into the gym. I am back down to 185 territory, I might actually be a little under, and my peak high weight was only in April near 215.

Mentally, however, not so much. I have had issues forever because I grew up in a very abusive household but I have been working through it with therapy and I am heading in the right direction! Got diagnosed with PTSD a couple of months ago and that had been a lot to deal with but also a blessing as it helps to know what is happening and why. It has been great for my relationship with my partner as well and our relationship has been getting happy again since I started therapy.

 

[gimmepie]

I'm loaded right up with both physical and mental health issues. I'm doing my best though. I'm far from being at a place where I'm "good" or "healthy," but I'm at least at a place where I'm managing things okay enough to not be miserable every waking moment. Baby steps!

 

[StCooler]

TLDR: I used to be unhealthy, now I'm mentally and physically healthy. But I still don't know what my abs look like lol.

Spoiler:

Eight years ago, my doctor told me that, if I kept eating like I did, I would die from a stroke at age 40. I was clearly overweight back then, not obese, but still. My problem was not that I ate too much (I did eat a bit too much though, otherwise I wouldn't be overweight), it was that I ate too much salt.

I have learned how to eat correctly. It was difficult, because the health / fitness web is full of stupid trends, fad diets, people who know nothing about anything, people who overcomplicate stuff because it makes them look smart, and people who don't understand why what they do work and provide stupid advice based on stupid generalisation.
I would say that 97.2% of the fitness industry is noise and you shouldn't listen to them.
Still, I found the good stuff, I accumulated knowledge, and as I grew up mentally + in my career, I got more experience and distance on what's happening in the fitness world, I stopped comparing myself to unrealistic goals.

Now I eat healthy all the time, except one-two meals a week, I train everyday for the sport I love even if I'm far from being competitive.
I'm the only guy among my relatives / friends / colleagues who worries about health in the broadest sense (both physically and mentally). I even have colleagues / friends who come to me to ask for advice. This is terrific though, because even if I do strength training, I look pretty random, and even if I have a healthy diet, I have never seen my abs.
I think I have the flop 1% genetics for strength training, and yet this is the sport I love.

Now, for those of you who want to be healthier, let me help you save time. As I told you, most of the fitness industry is noise, and if you feel discouraged, maybe read this.

Spoiler:

This is my "state of the art" of what's true among the noise that's on the internet. If I can help one person being healthy with this advice, I'll be happy.
Note that I cover the essentials, but I don't claim to be exhaustive.
EDIT: Added paragraph on mental health.

General advice:

Spoiler:

• There is no magical thing that will change your body.
• If you don't want to be healthy, nobody cares. If you're healthy, nobody cares. "You'll worry less about what people think of you when you realize how seldom they do"
• If your body is not what you want, you have to change your life accordingly to eat, sleep, train correctly.
• Sport is necessary. But you don't have to be a bodybuilder. Pick any sport that makes you sweat in five minutes (therefore, not golf, chess nor e-sports), and do one-two hours, three times a week. If you can / want to do more, please do.
• Don't worry about overtraining. You're not overtraining.
• Sleep enough. If you don't sleep enough, your body is more "awake", then it thinks it needs more energy, and you eat more, and you gain weight. Besides, stress is bad (you don't need me to tell you that) and sleep reduces stress.
• Be progressive. Your body and your brain don't like brutal changes.

About self-love:

Spoiler:

• You're not willing to change your body because you don't love it; you're willing to change your body because you do love it, and you want to best for it.
• Wanting to be a better version of yourself, doesn't mean you're insecure. The converse is true though.
• Now, I don't mean that everything I say is easy. It's simple, but not easy. Shifting from being unhealthy to being healthy implies you rethink your education (food, sports) and your life decisions (food, hobbies, sleep).
• Thus, be progressive. Your body and your brain don't like brutal changes.

About mental health:

Spoiler:

• I did struggle with mental health at some point. Here's my experience. What follows is probably specific to me.
• A psychological condition is a mental illness only if it has a negative impact on your life.
• If you have a mental illness, don't go see a psychologist or a therapist - anyone you only talk to. It helps, but it's not enough.
• A mental illness is a set of wrong physical / biological connections in your brain. You can rework them through time by talking, but it may take ten years. You don't want to wait ten years before you feel better. Ask a doctor for medication.
• Protect yourself. In my case, the news were having a real bad influence on my general mood. Solution: just don't watch the news. Unsubscribe to every Youtuber that has a bad influence on you. If you don't protect yourself, nobody will.

Excuses:

Spoiler:

• "But I don't have time" Make time. You probably have too many hobbies. Netflix is not mandatory in your life. Get organised too.
• "But genetics" Genetics prevents you from being a world-class athelete, it doesn't prevent you from being healthy.
• "But I don't have motivation" Motivation is not a thing. Motivation helps you start, it lasts one or two days. Forget about motivation. Being healthy requires habits, not motivation.
• "But effort" It takes effort to make the changes, but once they're made, it's not an effort to sustain them. If your changes are not sustainable, you did it wrong.
• "But I don't like this sport" Find another sport.
• "But I live with my partner / family, I can't control what I eat" Prepare your own food, but still eat with them. I've done it, and after the first week when they discover that you don't want to eat like them, they won't care anymore.
• "But I can't because my partner / friends / family don't care" If they don't care about your health, find another partner, don't hang out with those friends, and ghost your family.

About weight loss/weight gain:

Spoiler:

• Be progressive. Your body and your brain don't like brutal changes.
• If you want to control your weight (up or down), it all boils down to calories. If you want to gain weight, eat more calories. If you want to lose weight, eat less calories. Forget about vegan / vegetarian / paleo / keto / intermittent fasting / whatever. If it has a name, it's because people try to sell it. The balance between the calories you eat, and the calories you burn, is all that matters. Remember the first advice: "There is no magical thing that will change your body."
• Be progressive.
• To eat more: eat based on the time of the day (breakfast, lunch, dinner), not based on your hunger. Stop skipping meals ("but I don't have time" => make time). Get organised. Eat nuts/almonds/peanut butter... You don't gain weight because your intestine struggles to process what you eat. Eat pre/probiotic foods. Drink your calories.
• To eat less: eat gigantic portions of vegetables at each meal (everything that's green will do). Use smaller plates. Eat slowly. If you don't want to nibble unhealthy stuff all day, don't buy it in the first place. Replace with fruits. Don't fry anything. Drink more, it calms hunger. Don't hesitate to eat fatless substitutes, or artificial sweeteners. No they're not giving you cancer.
• No, it's not genetics.
• Be progressive.

Influencers:

Spoiler:

• Fitness influencers from Instagram / Youtube / whatever are not the average people, they're the top 1%. Olympia / Arnold Classic champions are the top 0.0000001%. Chances are, you're not in these tops.
• Don't compare yourself to fitness influencers.
• You don't have to be a bodybuilder to be healthy.
• You don't have to have the physique of a fitness influencer to be healthy.
• Not to be sexist, but any male influencer whose main argument is a "wow" physique is taking steroids / growth hormone / whatever. They probably overcomplicate their advice to hide the fact that they take drugs.
• Not to be sexist, but any female influencer whose main arguments consists in the size and rotundity of her behind, is just famous because she's sexy, and thus, probably gives bad advice. The advice they give is what you want to hear, not what you need to hear.
• Listen to Coach Greg (he screams a lot but he's the best fitness influencer in terms of quality and "all-round-ness" of advice + debunks the bad advice from other fitness influencers), More Plates More Dates (the same, but more calm), Athlean-X (tends to overcomplicate but it's still good advice). Sorry I don't have more, I get most of my information from influencers in my language ^^"

About science:

Spoiler:

• I want to tackle the topic of science use in fitness, be it for muscle gain or weight loss.
• Warning: Ok, I'm a scientist, more precisely, I'm a mathematician. In mathematics, you don't have studies. What is published in mathematics, is true. It's not a hint of what maybe happens in the world under certain circumstances or whatever; in maths, an article is just true (unless there's a error in it). So maybe I am not legitimate to say what follows. This is an understanding from a guy who's from a different community.
• Warning: I don't even want to talk about p-value and how wrong non-mathematical statisticians use it.
• Warning: I don't even want to talk about the other infinite publication biases and how you can work around an protocol to obtain the result you want.
• DON'T read studies. A study is an experiment report. A scientist has an idea they want to test, they prepare a protocol, they gather people, they do the experiment, they write the report, and they send it to a journal to be published.
  When it's published, the message is NOT "this is my new finding, thus this is the truth", but rather: "hey colleagues, you mind looking at this and reproduce the experiment please?". A study IS NOT the truth.
  Besides, studies show results within a very thin context. If a study is about muscle growth in physiotherapy, please don't generalise to muscle growth for strength training. If a study is about weight loss for morbidly obese people, please don't generalise to weight loss in order to be shredded.
  A study is in no way a consensus, it's an attempt at verifying an idea. If you're not a scientist yourself, studies are not for you, they're not written for you.
• What you can trust more are meta-analyses, even if they're far from consensus.
• DON'T read press articles about studies. If a newspaper reports a study, then its title will inevitably say "here's the new finding, thus this is the truth" and the journalist, who either doesn't know what they read, or doesn't have time to dig into the study, will inevitably misrepresent its result and misinterpret its conclusions. It can be as bad as simply stating the contrary of what the study shows.
• Anyway, if you're not a world-class athlete, you don't need overcomplicating stuff. You read press articles about scientific stuff, because you hope that science will make all the efforts for you. Wrong. There is no magical stuff that will help you.

 

[Nah]

I could be worse but I wouldn't say I'm healthy. Don't get any exercise outside what little comes from my job, not really into fruits/vegetables, don't give much thought to nutrition, and I drink a lot. And mentally....well if you have any mental health issue at all, I'd imagine that you don't really qualify as mentally healthy.

 

[colours]

as far as physical health goes, i can definitely improve in this area. :c i don't really exercise often, mostly because work tires me out so much that i don't feel like going outside for walks or jogs. indoor exercise is a thing of course, but i lack the motivation to do so ><; consistent exercise is a difficult thing to keep up with. luckily, i'm not SO unhealthy that it's affecting my day-to-day life, but slowly but surely i'm making more of an effort, here.

mentally... i don't think it's a secret that i'm struggling a lot, here. full-time work and the area where i work being rather short-staffed is a big reason why i haven't made any appointments to my therapist, as it's kind of a pain in the ass to request days off. @_@ not only that, setting appointments with my psychiatrist is even more annoying and that in combination with everything else makes it very difficult to address my mental health issues adequately. tbh improvement here is very arduous and it's because of the lack of proper time and attention to dedicate to my mental health that i feel like it's more in decline than anything else. :s but i'm not really sure how to go about with this... ah well. i'll figure it out.

 

[faf]

Physically, I can go on long walks as well as jump on my trampoline for a good hour and I'd say I'm in decent shape and I eat well but I also have a jaw issue which does prevent me from being completely healthy.

Mentally, I'd say it's neutral, some days it's bad, others it's good and I do suspect it's linked to my chronic pain tho.

 

[Devalue]

Physically: Not particularly. Suffers from incurable, chronic health issues. Avoided anything severely debilitating (so far), however. Reverberates into diet. Improved on that front, on the plus side. Weighs the closest to a healthy amount in about a decade.

Walks around periodically for health. Tosses in a few push-ups every other day. Exercises very infrequently outside that.

Clocks good amounts of sleep. Functions poorly without it. Colors the entire day. Experiences poor sleep occasionally due to the aforementioned health issues, unfortunately.

Mentally: ...Yes (or at least, decent)? Could see others arguing otherwise. Disagrees.

 

[warm]

physically i am pretty healthy. strong muscular and bone structure, very hardworking immune system, no chronic issues other than having a bad knee i injured a few months ago. only real issue is i need exercise outside of work and the most i do is go for walks. attempts to get involved with the gym again haven't been going well due to not kicking myself into high gear.

mental health is a constant coin toss. sometimes i want everything to be over, sometimes i'm very grateful. anyone who knows me has noted that i deal with a lot of problems in this department but that i'm really good at keeping it to myself. has to get really bad for me to spill out my emotions and that's stressful in itself, because by that point i'm already falling to pieces.

 

[Corrin]

My immune system is good, but I have pre existing conditions.
Plus I need to eat better, so in short, not really.

 

[AlexMills]

I only eat garbage but I work out a lot so I guess they cancel each other out?

 

[CiCi]

Aside from being overweight, I'd say I'm pretty physically healthy. I very rarely have any health issues and, despite going out to walk the dogs quite a lot, I don't get sick very often. Last time I was actually sick was 3 years ago with a very mild case of the flu/decent case of a common cold. My husband got it less bad than I did, then gave it to me where I got it worse (figures, but he's also a lot healthier than I am). I eat a lot of great food with very little junk in between.

Being vegan helps me get in a LOT of vegetables and fruit. I've started eating green smoothies as well recently to hopefully help with losing baby weight and making it through my postpartum period, which will be coming any day now. My pregnancy has been very healthy with no issues to speak of. I haven't even gotten varicose veins and have very rarely ever swelled (the few times I have, it's been miniscule swelling in my feet) and I've got a max of a month to go - currently 37 weeks along!

I'm very thankful that I'm physically healthy and I can't wait to get back to a healthy weight and BMI.

Now my mental health? Oof. That's bad. Panic disorder, anxiety, and pretty nasty clinical depression that's led to suicidal thoughts several times. I've had plenty of doctors tell me that I need therapy but I'm really, really bad at opening up to people and caring enough to do so. The thought of going to therapy, just like the thought of going to any health professional, stresses me out. I just want to be left alone.

My mental health this 2021 wouldn't have been so bad if I hadn't had those two very close family deaths within 2 months. I'm still working through that but I'm doing better. RIP Grandma and Briggs. I hope you can watch my baby grow up from heaven. 🖤🖤

 

[Aslan]

I did a lot of hiking and running up until my surgery this year. It took a while to train but I was running 10km every 2-3 days and hiking on the weekends by the end of it and I felt healthy physically. I lost a lot of what I built up after the surgery and its been hard since then to find the discipline to build it back up. I want to build back up to that point though and am thinking of signing up for a race of some type. I've had physical health issues over the years but regular medication and surgery have done a lot to make them manageable. I still get symptoms but I'm able to push them back into the background and not notice them as much as I used to. I do get negative about my health sometimes but overall I'm grateful I'm doing better.

I think mental illness is always a continuous process of up and down recovery so I would say it's still a challenge a lot of the time but I do my best to remain realistic yet positive about the situation. There's a lot I could improve on but I'm proud of myself for getting to where I am in life despite it all. I'm doing a lot better in terms of listening to myself when I know I'm going through it and taking more care of myself so I would call that a win. So getting more mentally healthy slowly but it's a process \o/

 

[Sheep]

I'd say upper average/lower yes. I don't eat junk food often (and never drink the more awful things like soda), go outside to keep my body moving often enough, and am decently mentally healthy atm. But what puts me back from being a full-on yes:

1) I don't eat tons of junk food or many foods bad for you (and am conscious of things like dangerous, heart issue-causing trans fats), but I still don't only eat fully 'healthy' stuff either
2) I don't do intense workouts, only brisk walks (which last 1-2 hours)
3) I still have anxiety and my mental health probably won't ever be perfect.

But I try. It's close enough!

 

[Bay]

Physically, kinda not good. I've gone to a few doctor visits and they tell me how my cholesterol is getting too high. I started getting back to exercise a few months ago with morning walks, push ups, and using my static bike. I've been also trying to eat and drink better by cutting down on sodium/salt and sugar.

Mentally, well I have my days where it pluments bad. Some days though I get a positive outlook and I'm trying to think in that mindset more.